March 29 (UPI) – Utah became the first state in the country to prohibit the display of the LGBTQ Pride flag in all public schools and government buildings after Governor Spencer Cox signed the bill into law.
Cox did not sign the Flag Display Amendments legislation, which “prohibits a government entity or employee of a government entity from displaying a flag on or near government property, except for certain exempted flags.”
The governor also did not veto the bill, which passed both the Utah House and Senate and will go into effect on May 7.
Cox predicted that if he vetoed the bill, Utah’s Republican supermajority legislature would override the decision.
“As tired as Utahns are of politically divisive symbols, I believe they are also tired of culture war bills that fail to solve the problems they claim to address,” Cox wrote in a letter to legislators earlier this week.
“In an attempt to make some kids feel more welcome, other kids feel less welcome,” he stated.
The governor also expressed “serious concerns” about the legislation introduced by Republican State Rep. Trevor Lee, which initially focused on schools. Legislators later extended it to include government buildings.
In addition to the United States flag, the new law allows buildings to display the Utah state flag, flags of Native American tribes, Olympic flags, military flags, flags of other countries, and college and university flags.
“While I believe it is wrong for city and county officials to fly divisive flags, I also believe that elections have consequences, and the best way to stop such behavior is to elect people who believe otherwise. “All this bill does is add fuel to the fire,” Cox stated in the letter.
“To the legislators who supported this bill. “I’m sure it won’t fix what you’re trying to fix,” he said.
Following a federal government directive, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs prohibited the display of Pride flags at all Veterans Affairs facilities last month.
